1970 — Aug 5, Fire, Pensioner Rooming House, E. Hennepin, Minneapolis, MN            –11-12

–11-12  Blanchard range.^[1]

—     12  NFPA. “Bimonthly Fire Record.” Fire Journal, Vol. 65, No. 1, Jan 1971.

—     12  National Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (Feb 2003).

—     12  National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. 1983, p. 137.

—     11  Associated Press. “Mistaken identity of fire victim.” Austin Herald, MN. 8-8-1970, p. 2.

—     11  AP. “One Fire Victim Still Unidentified.” Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN. 8-10-1970, p7.

—     11  Brainerd Daily Dispatch (MN). “Minneapolis Fire Fatal to 11 Men,” August 5, 1970, 1.

 

Narrative Information

 

NFPA: “Residential. Apartment House. Fire Doors Held Open. Aug. 5, 1970, Minneapolis, MN

 

“A fire that may have started in rubbish at the rear of the 200-foot-by-250 foot three-story building of ordinary construction spread rapidly up the three-story rear porches…leaving 12 persons dead and three injured. The fire spread first from the porch into the second story, where it traveled along the prefinished plywood corridor walls. The doors enclosing the stairway from the second to the third story were held open…allowing heat and smoke to travel to the third story. The fire damage on the third floor was light, but the heat and smoke conditions were severe; 13 of the casualties occurred there, 10 in the corridor.

 

“Fire and smoke doors that are held open do little to prevent spread of heat and smoke. A vigorous inspection program can detect these conditions, but a constant education program is necessary to convince people of the potentially disastrous results of tampering with devices installed to protect occupants against fire.” (NFPA. “Bimonthly Fire Record.” Fire Journal, Vol. 65, No. 1, Jan 1971.)

 

NFPA, May 1971: “In noncommercial residential buildings an apartment building fire in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was responsible for the worst loss of life [in 1970]. The fire occurred in a three-story wood and brick building at 12:54 am on August 5, 1970. Twelve people perished in this fire of undetermined cause. It is believed the fire originated in a box of rubbish on the second-story rear orch. When fire fighters arrived the entire porch and the second-story hallway were involved and the fire was spreading up the stairway to the third floor. The fire doors enclosing the stairways were blocked open.” (National Fire Protection Association. “Multiple-Death Fires of 1970.” Fire Journal, Vol. 65, No. 3, May 1971, p. 10.)

 

Newspapers

 

Aug 5: “Minneapolis (AP) – Eleven men died in the smoke and flames of a swift blaze that swept through an old apartment building on the fringe of the Minneapolis downtown section early today. Authorities said seven men were dead on arrival at a hospital and four others had died there. Four others, three of them elderly, were listed in critical condition at Hennepin County General Hospital. The hospital listed them as Mrs. Jean Newman, 44, the only woman among the killed and injured, Charles Hinton, 82; Isaac Gilbert, 86, and an elderly male who was not identified immediately. Mrs. Newman, Hinton and Gilbert suffered smoke inhalation, while the unidentified man was severely burned.

 

“Most of the victims were believed to be elderly pensioners. About 11 other persons escaped, though most had to leave their belongings in their rooms.

 

“Fire Department spokesmen said the blaze apparently started in a wooden porch on the back of the building which housed three small businesses on the first floor and had 33 units of rooms and apartments on the second and third floor. The cause was not learned immediately.

 

“The building is in the 200 block of East Hennepin Avenue, just across the Mississippi River in a rundown section of small businesses with some second-floor rooming houses. The going rent was $35 for a room and $60 for apartments, said a man who lived in the building.” (Brainerd Daily Dispatch (MN). “Minneapolis Fire Fatal to 11 Men,” August 5, 1970, p. 1.)

 

Aug 5: “Minneapolis (AP)…. ‘Some of those old pensioners we knew for 20 years. I’d worked

with ’em on the railroad. The best old pensioners you’ve ever seen.’….

 

“Police at the scene said there was no chance for escape to the rear. With the back stairway burned and a rear inside stairs engulfed in flames and smoke, the only other chance was a two-foot wide steel ladder attached to the brick building.

 

“Three shops on the first floor which were burned out were a gift shop, a loan company and a phonograph-record shop.

 

“The owner of the building, Ernie H. Pesis, said…the building was ‘equipped as required’ by law with fire extinguishers and exits.

 

“A preliminary loss estimate of $150,000 was made by Lee J. Schoephoerster, Fire Department supervisor of investigations.

 

“An alarm also was turned in by George Roman, a fire insurance adjuster who happened to be driving by. “I saw a ball of fire wrapping the back of the building, so I called the fire department on my car phone and told them to put in a multiple, you’ve got a bad fire here.”” (AP. “Minneapolis apartment fire leaves 11 dead. 4 more listed as ‘critical’.” Winona Daily News, MN, 8-5-1970, p1.)

 

Aug 6: “Minneapolis, Minn. (AP) – Tenants’ attempts to cool their rooms by wiring open fire doors may have helped speed flames through the upper floors of an 85-year-old apartment building early Wednesday, killing 11 persons, authorities said. Four other roomers, including the only woman casualty, were critically injured in the predawn blaze. There were 11 survivors.

 

“The victims, some of them elderly pensioners, were found just outside their small cubicles and Fire Chief Kenneth Hall said they apparently were felled as they opened their doors to the smoke-filled, scorching hallways.

 

“Hall said the fire doors at the top on the second and third-floor stairways, were ordered by the department two years ago to prevent fire from spreading rapidly. ‘We found the doors wired open,’ he said, noting that, although illegal, the practice was common among tenants trying to beat the summer’s heat. Hall said the three-story building had passed an inspection a month ago.

 

“All but one of the survivors fled through the front exit, where three small business shops were located on the ground floor.

 

“Hall…said it appeared the blaze started in a trash pile beneath a wooden porch at the rear of the building… ‘when we got there, the whole back was a mass of flames,’ Hall said, noting flames leaping quickly through the building, with its many hallways and wood-paneled rooms.  He said rooms were only about six feet wide and without windows – ‘big enough tor a bed and dresser and that’s about all.’

 

“Larry Langsdorf, 46, who occupied a third floor room said he was asleep when the fire broke out, ‘I woke up and smelled smoke,’ he said, ‘so I opened the door and I could hardly see the corridor light, it was so black.’ He said he kicked his way into an adjoining room, tossed a rope through a window and slipped to the sidewalk just as firemen arrived….

 

“The building inspector’s office said its first record showed a permit for improvement work in 1885, indicating the building was erected earlier. It is located in a heavily commercial area of small business shops and a few upper story rooming houses.” (Associated Press. “Apartment Blaze Kills 11.” Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, TX, 8-6-1970, A11.)

 

Aug 8: “Minneapolis (AP) – A man reported killed in a rooming house fire early Wednesday was mistakenly identified, the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office said Thursday. The office said a body previously identified as that of Edwin Johnson, 66, has now been identified as Abel Helm, in his 60s. Johnson showed up alive and well Thursday, the office said. Two of the fire’s 11 victims still remain unidentified.” (AP. “Mistaken identity of fire victim.” Austin Herald, MN. 8-8-1970, p. 2.)

 

Aug 9: “Minneapolis (AP) – A man reported killed in a rooming house fire early Wednesday was mistakenly identified, the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office said Thursday. The office said a body previously identified as that of Edwin Johnson, 66, has now been identified as Abel Helm, in his 60s. Johnson showed up alive and well Thursday, the office said. Two of the fire’s 11 victims remain unidentified.” (Associated Press. “Corpse is Unidentified.” Albert Lea Tribune, MN, 8-9-1970, p. 15.)

 

Aug 10: “Minneapolis (AP) The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office has identified all but one victim of the rooming house fire that claimed 11 lives early Wednesday. Most recent identification was that of George W. Steffen, 71, a building resident. Authorities said Saturday the 11^th victim was six feet tall, weighed 185 pounds and was between 35 and 45 years old.” (AP. “One Fire Victim Still Unidentified.” Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN. 8-10-1970, p. 7.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Apartment Blaze Kills 11.” Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, TX, 8-6-1970, A11.

Accessed 2-25-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lubbock-avalanche-journal-aug-06-1970-p-11/

Associated Press, Minneapolis. “Minneapolis apartment fire leaves 11 dead. 4 more listed as ‘critical’.” Winona Daily News, MN, 8-5-1970, p. 1. Accessed 5-23-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/minnesota/winona/winona-daily-news/1970/08-05?tag

 

Associated Press. “Corpse is Unidentified.” Albert Lea Tribune, MN, 8-9-1970, p. 15. Accessed 2-25-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/albert-lea-sunday-tribune-aug-09-1970-p-15/

 

Associated Press, Minneapolis. “One Fire Victim Still Unidentified.” Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN. 8-10-1970, p. 7. Accessed 5-23-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/minnesota/brainerd/brainerd-daily-dispatch/1970/08-10/page-13?tag

 

Associated Press, Minneapolis. “Mistaken identity of fire victim.” Austin Herald, MN. 8-8-1970, p. 2. Accessed 5-23-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/minnesota/austin/austin-daily-herald/1970/08-08/page-2?tag

 

Brainerd Daily Dispatch, MN. “Minneapolis Fire Fatal to 11 Men,” August 5, 1970.  Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=34750969

 

National Fire Protection Association. “Bimonthly Fire Record.” Fire Journal, Vol. 65, No. 1, Jan 1971.

 

National Fire Protection Association. “Multiple-Death Fires of 1970.” Fire Journal, Vol. 65, No. 3, May 1971, p. 10.

 

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)

 

National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 1983.

 

 

 

 

[1] The NFPA notes twelve deaths, and perhaps there were. We have only been able to verify eleven, though there were four people entered into the Hennepin County General Hospital in critical condition. We have searched through newspaperarchives.com through the month of August looking for a note on another death, and looked by name for the three identified hospitalized to determine if an obituary could be located (unsuccessfully). In that the NFPA occasionally does make mistakes in its records concerning fire fatalities, we cannot just assume that twelve is the correct number of deaths. Thus we choose to note 11-12.